In chat the topic, and problem of dealing with radiation while traveling in space has been mentioned a few times. It is also pointed to when bringing up trips to the moon, or even the possible beyond.So i'm compiling a few sources on advances, either in the past, or recently (as i find them) on ways to overcome this obstacle, or theorize on how it already has been overcome. As my opinion regards the subject. Articles, and links to follow. Feel free to give ideas, or post material you the community feel is relevant.

I would ask for positive info only, do not need. 'That shit isn't possible' Or ' They can never do that'.

As i will grovel before the mods to have those comments removed. jk, all input is appreciated.

Force Field generators (magnetic field generators, like the one that protects the planet)

January 14, 2013Frank Morring, Jr. Washington

Astronauts on deep-space missions may one day deploy protective magnetic fields similar to those that shelter us from deadly space radiation on Earth, just as they will carry the necessary food and atmosphere.

NASA and its industrial and academic partners are studying ways to use superconducting magnets to generate magnetic fields around deep-space habitats. A promising approach would use coils that “inflate” with their own magnetism to deflect solar-flare protons and galactic cosmic rays that otherwise would restrict human travel time in space.

“The concept of shielding astronauts with magnetic fields has been studied for over 40 years, and it remains an intractable engineering problem,” says Shayne Westover of Johnson Space Center (JSC). “Superconducting magnet technology has made great strides in the past decade.”

Westover is principal investigator on a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) grant to study high-temperature superconductor technology as an approach to active radiation shielding for astronauts. Under the grant, JSC is working with a company that has expertise in superconducting magnets to gain some definition on just how effective they can be in protecting spaceflight crews.

“Radiation shielding, if it is not at the top of the list, is No. 2,” says Palm Bay, Fla.-based Advanced Magnet Lab President Mark Senti. “They have propulsion figured out, and I'm not trivializing anything. They have solar protection and energy, but if you don't solve radiation shielding, there's no sense in doing engineering everywhere else.”

That was essentially the conclusion of the panel headed by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine that studied the future of human spaceflight, at the beginning of President Barack Obama's first term. Since then, NASA has increased its focus on “enabling technology” for deep-space human exploration. The two-year, $500,000 NIAC grant headed by Westover is examining an AML concept that would launch superconducting-magnet coils and then expand them to provide the diameter necessary to produce enough magnetic shielding to protect a crew.

AML Chief Scientist Rainer Meinke conceived of attaching superconducting magnetic tape to a flexible material such as Kevlar. The perpendicular expansion provided by the Lorentz force when current is passed through the tape opens it from a collapsed configuration maintained during launch into large coils that can encircle a habitat. The current concept would launch six collapsed coils and the habitat separately, and then set up the active shielding in space (see illustration).

“In a superconducting magnet, because you're able to transmit electricity with zero resistance, [you can] pass very high currents, which means very strong magnetic fields,” Senti says.

AML plans to conduct a subscale demonstration of the coil expansion at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Fla. However, most of the work under the NIAC grant will be analytical. Westover and his colleagues at JSC, AML, NASA's Ames Research Center and Italy's University of Perugia plan to move beyond the Phase 1 concept definition already funded into more detailed engineering.

Among the issues to be considered, says Westover, is gaining a “total spacecraft” understanding of the radiation dose a crew would receive inside the magnetic shield surrounding a 6-meter-dia. X 10-meter-long (19.6 X 32.8-ft.) cylindrical habitat. Because the shielding does not cover the cylinder's end caps, Westover and his team will calculate the passive shielding that would be provided at one end by a propulsion module and at the other, by a docking mechanism for the planned Orion multipurpose crew vehicle. Scientists in Perugia will conduct Monte Carlo simulations of radiation traces through the notional hab, which will include a compensation coil to protect crew and electronics from prolonged exposure to the strong magnetic “fringe fields” that would otherwise enter the living space.

Also on the agenda is a search for ways to expand manufacture of superconducting magnetic tape from hundreds of meters to the “kilometers” that would be needed in the concept. While the tape exerts almost zero resistance on an electrical current—allowing it to maintain its magnetic field with only a “trickle current” from the habitat's solar arrays—splices in the tape add resistance and increase power requirements, says Westover.

For years, engineers also have studied toroidal coils as a way to shield space habitats. But the structure needed to hold the magnets in place—and the power necessary to produce a magnetic field strong enough to protect the crew—creates “very large forces on the hab.” In concept at least, that problem would be mitigated by the expandable-coil approach. The NIAC study should help refine the understanding of just how much better that setup will be at lowering the lifetime radiation doses for deep-space crews.

A simple, portable magnetic field generator inside a spaceship should be sufficient to deflect the dangerous highly charged particles of the solar wind away from a spacecraft and the astronauts inside, according to research in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion.

Space weather - the term used to describe the slew of various particles and cosmic rays that saturate deep space - is the single greatest obstacle to deep space travel, exposing astronauts to deadly levels of radiation and disrupting sensitive electronics. And like the weather on Earth, space weather is hard to predict with any great accuracy. Large numbers of energetic particles can occur intermittently as "storms" with little or no warning.

The Apollo astronauts of the 1960s and 70s are the only humans to have traveled beyond the Earth's natural force field, the magnetosphere. With typical journeys on the Apollo missions lasting only about 8 days, it was sheer luck that the astronauts avoided an encounter with a storm. A journey to Mars, however, would take about eighteen months, during which time it is almost certain that the astronauts would be enveloped by a solar storm.

Now, however, scientists have shown that a smaller version of the Earth's magnetosphere can be used to protect a spaceship and its occupants. The idea has been around since the 1960s but it was thought impractical because it was believed that only a very large (more than 100km wide) magnetic bubble could possibly work.

The researchers involved, from the UK and Portugal, have used the findings from 50 years of nuclear fusion research, to show that it is possible for astronauts to shield their spacecrafts with a portable magnetosphere - scattering the highly charged, ionized particles of the solar wind and flares away from their space craft. Computer simulations done by a team last year showed that theoretically a very much smaller "magnetic bubble" of only several hundred meters across would be enough to protect a spacecraft.

Now this has been confirmed in the laboratory in the UK. By recreating in miniature a tiny piece of the solar wind, scientists working in the laboratory were able to confirm that a small "hole" in the solar wind is all that would be needed to keep the astronauts safe on their journey. "These initial experiments have shown promise and that it may be possible to shield astronauts from deadly space weather," said Dr. Ruth Bamford, one of the lead researchers from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/200810 ... _sys.shtml

Monday, 3 November 2008Magnetic shield for spacefarersFuture astronauts could benefit from a magnetic "umbrella" that deflects harmful space radiation around their crew capsule, scientists say.

The super-fast charged particles that stream away from the Sun pose a significant threat to any long-duration mission, such as to the Moon or Mars.

But the research team says a spaceship equipped with a magnetic field generator could protect its occupants.

Lab tests are reported in the journal Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion.

The approach mimics the protective field that envelops the Earth, known as the magnetosphere.

Astronauts' risk

Our star is a constant source of charged particles, and storms that arise on the Sun's surface result in huge numbers of these particles spilling into space.

As well as this plasma, or "solar wind", high velocity particles known as cosmic rays also flood through our galaxy.

The Earth's magnetosphere deflects many of these particles that rain down on the planet, and our atmosphere absorbs most of the rest. International space agencies acknowledge that astronauts face a significant risk of ill health and even death if they experience major exposure to this harsh environment.

And even the spacecraft themselves are not immune to the effects. A solar flare crippled the electronics on Japan's mission to Mars, Nozomi, in 2002, for example.

But researchers from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), the Universities of York and Strathclyde, and IST Lisbon have shown how it might be possible to create a portable mini-magnetosphere for spaceships.

People scale

In its experimental set-up, the team simulated the solar wind in the laboratory and used magnetic fields to isolate an area inside the plasma, deflecting particles around the "hole".

It was not initially clear the idea would work, said Ruth Bamford, who led the research.

"There was a belief that you couldn't make a little hole in the solar wind small enough to do this at all," Dr Bamford, from RAL, told BBC News.

"It was believed that you had to have something very large, approaching planetary scale, to work in this way."

The team has had to take into account the physics of plasmas at the comparatively tiny human scale. To create its metre-sized trial, the team used a plasma jet and a simple $20 magnet.

"The first time we switched it on, it worked," said Dr Bamford.

What is more, the trial field seems to adjust itself automatically. "It does have the capacity to be somewhat self-regulating, just like the Earth's magnetosphere is," Dr Bamford explained.

"When it gets a strong push from the solar wind, the bubble gets smaller. The video shows us increasing the pressure of the solar wind, and the shield gets smaller but brighter."

Power issues

Many more experiments are needed, Dr Bamford admits, to understand how best to harness the effect; and a practical implementation is probably 15 to 20 years away. To protect a spaceship and its crew, she said, the craft itself might carry the magnetic field generator. Alternatively, it was possible to envisage a constellation of accompanying ships dedicated to the purpose of providing the umbrella where it was needed most.

The approach will probably also work with a field that is not on constantly, but cycles on and off - conserving the power that is precious on long-term missions. The details of how to cycle the field and control its shape must be hammered out, however.

"There're a lot of things to work out, like control, reliability, weight to launch, and so on," said Dr Bamford.

Saturday, June 9 2012SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah biotech firm has developed seemingly simple solutions to rather high-tech and potentially harmful problems. BloXR (pronounced BLOX-er) — a Salt Lake City start-up company — has created two products aimed at better protecting medical professionals and patients from radiation exposure, including a lotion that blocks X-rays and light-weight aprons and thyroid collars the company says are more effective at blocking radiation.

The lotion uses bismuth oxide to create a ceramic material that has the same effectiveness as typical lead-based radiation protection, but without the added toxicity and weight, Rai Chowdhary, vice president of operations and engineering for BloXR, said.

"Because we are using a ceramic, it is completely non-toxic and benign, and yet you get the benefit of the blocking from the heavy element," Chowdhary said. The product is currently under review for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

He said the lotion is meant to be applied over the entire hand and covered by a latex glove, allowing full dexterity by the doctor or other medical professional as they perform procedures. Alternatively, they could also slip the glove on their bare hand and apply the cream on the outer latexl, he added.

Either application would provide the necessary protection against radiation, Chowdhary said. The lotion is removed with water.

The apron and thyroid collar are made with the same bismuth oxide compound, but in a solid form and sewn into a garment made from the same material used in surgical scrubs and hospital gowns. The result is a garment that is 30 percent to 50 percent lighter than traditional lead aprons and is also eco-friendly and disposable, he said.

Traditional lead-based garments are not easily disposed of, Chowdhary explained, because of the hazardous nature of lead. Also, medical professionals have complained of neck and back pain from heavy lead garments, which typically weigh up to 20 pounds, due to hours of wear daily over extended period of time, he said.

BloXR has applied for several patents for its two products and recently "graduated" from a program developed in conjunction with the Utah Science and Technology Research Initiative and BioInnovations Gateway — a high-technology business incubator designed for emerging biotech and medical device companies.

BiG provided BloXR with a lab and office space, equipment, technical resources and personnel — essential tools the new start-up business used to grow and enter the competitive life-science industry. BloXR has recently entered into the manufacturing and distribution phase of their products and will move into a new facility at Sorenson Research Park near Taylorsville in July. The company also plans to hire approximately 12 employees by next year.http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8655 ... tml?pg=all

Mayco Inc. is the largest fabricator of lead based products, other than batteries, in the United States. The Company manufactures and sells its lead sheet and other lead products on a nationwide basis to a diverse industrial customer base. MAYCO operates six plants on a nationwide basis, in all regions of the United States, thus reducing freight costs and delivery times. The headquarters is located in Birmingham, Alabama.

MAYCO features "The World's Largest Lead Alloy Rolling Mill" for production lead sheet. This is to support the growing needs of our customers and of our in house fabrication of sheet lead products!

SilflexMarShield introduces a new radiation shielding product, Silflex – a product made up of flexible, tungsten-impregnated, silicone pieces. This versatile form or shielding comes in a variety of shapes for use in many hard-to-shield applications. It is non-toxic, easy to work with and cut, and the lightest shielding available at 4.5 lbs per square foot. It is ideal for shielding small pipes, such as those smaller than 1″ in diameter. This non-hazardous product offers effective radiation protection wherever it is needed. It is highly resilient to boric acid and sodium hydroxide, and can be used in temperatures ranging from -50º to 250ºCBenefits of Silflex

• .5” of Silflex is equal to a HVL 1.2” to 2” Silflex is equal to a TVL• Approximately 4.5 lbs./sq. ft. of Silflex is equal to 10 lbs./sq. ft. of lead wool.• Temperature from -50°C to +250°C.• Resistant to Boric Acid and Sodium Hydroxide.• Silflex requires no resealing and can be easily trimmed.http://marshield.com/nuclear-shielding/silflex/

30/11/2012, The tungsten alloy DENSIMET® reliably shields against X-rays and gamma radiation. With its new production process and great expertise in the materials field, PLANSEE has made the manufacture of DENSIMET® shielding components particularly cost-effective.Whether in the world of medical or industrial X-ray technology, radiotherapy or nuclear power stations: Wherever high-energy radiation is used, it is vital to protect people against it.The denser the material, the better able it is to protect from radiation. That is why heavy elements absorb X-rays and gamma radiation particularly well. Lead is still the most frequently used shielding material. Because it is a very soft material, it is mostly used only in combination with support structures made of steel.Lead is a toxic material that is harmful to the environment and humans. The onerous recycling process makes lead expensive despite the low initial procurement costs. Many enterprises are therefore looking for a suitable alternative for providing reliable radiation protection.DENSIMET® combines shielding properties with excellent machinability The density of tungsten is 60 percent higher than that of lead. That is why even thinner layers of tungsten are able to provide reliable shielding against radiation. The tungsten alloy DENSIMET® is particularly suitable as a shielding material. It consists of tungsten and a small proportion of nickel-iron. Like tungsten, the material has excellent shielding properties. However, it is also considerably more ductile than tungsten and can therefore be machined better.

A team of researchers is looking to the moon to develop the tools future astronauts may need to ward off potentially life-threatening levels of space radiation.

Currently mid-way through their NASA-funded study, the researchers are working to determine whether a set of electrically charged shield spheres atop 40-meter masts could deflect radiation from a populated moonbase.

If it proves possible, such a radiation-proof screen - called an electrostatic shield - could protect astronauts from the long-lasting, and possibly fatal, radiation hazards of spaceflight beyond the Earth's magnetic field.

That radiation, high-energy protons and electrons spewed out by the Sun during massive solar storms or traversing the universe as galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), are the main hazard targeted by Lane, his colleagues. ASRC researcher Charles Buhler is leading the study, which is a Phase 1 project funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC).

Not like Apollo

Despite the apparent ease of past lunar exploration radiation-wise, such as NASA's successful Apollo moon landings, without adequate shielding long-term occupation of the moon and space exploration may remain out of reach, researchers said.

"A lot of people think about the Apollo astronauts, and that they didn't have much protection and were fine," Lane told SPACE.com. "But in Apollo, it was a very short mission and a lot of it was basically luck. I'm not sure how they managed to be so lucky, but I don't think you can count on luck on short missions for the future or trips to the planets."

Researchers have said that a major radiation event during the any of six Apollo moon landings could have been catastrophic to the astronauts who carried them out. But Apollo crews lived on the moon for days at most, while long-term mission will run much longer.

Radiation from galactic cosmic rays or solar particles, however, would be extremely likely to affect a long-duration stay on the moon, researchers said.

Sphere geometry

Currently, Lane and his colleagues are trying to find the best way to arrange large field generators - the spheres - of different sizes to create an electric field that repels high-energy protons and electron.

"The first question is, 'what field do you really need to stop these charged particles,'" Lane said.

Current designs call for weak, negatively charged spheres distributed along the shield's outer regions to sift out electrons while strong, positively charged generators cluster at the center to deflect high-energy protons, Lane added.

But the challenge lies in arranging a number of spheres to build a comprehensive electric field that is strong enough to deflect radiation, but not so strong that it rips electrons out of the moonbase structure or surrounding material - hence the 40-meter poles to keep generators at a safe, water tank-high distance.

"That's one of the design constraints," Lane said.

The researchers are currently not addressing the shield design's power needs, though scientists with past studies say they may be staggering.

"The real issue is what type of power levels will this type of shield need," said NASA physicist Robert Youngquist, who is studying the potential of an electrostatic shield for future spacecraft. "If it's too much current, that's a potential showstopper."

But at least for a lunar base, astronauts would have the benefit if having half of their surface - mainly the floor - already shielded against radiation by the sheer bulk of the moon, Youngquist told SPACE.com.

Multi-shield approach

To maximize the effectiveness of a lunar electrostatic field, ASRC researchers envision a tiered approach to radiation protection.

Spherical generators could be combined flat electrostatic screens placed low to the ground to keep moon dust from being attracted to generator surfaces and clogging the works, Lane said, adding that the same lunar material could be tapped as a secondary shield.

"I think the most likely system will involve regolith or sand bags built up like an igloo," he said.

Meanwhile, Youngquist said there are still other researchers looking into developing radiation shields using magnetic fields and plasma, streams of electrons that have been ripped from their source atoms.

"Whether or not [the final shield used] is electrostatic, it's still something we need to study closely," Lane said, adding that there are still many other engineering challenges involved with future moon and Mars exploration." If it's not a good method, at least we'll know why." http://www.space.com/658-lunar-shields- ... nauts.html

All posts and media uploads are expressed opinions of the contributing members and
are not representative of or endorsed by the owners or employees of Disclose.tv.

This site may contain copyrighted material. Members may make such material available
in an effort to advance the awareness and understanding of issues relating to civil rights,
economics, individual rights, international affairs, liberty, science & technology, etc. We
believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in
section 107 of the US Copyright Law.